Big Guns For Bing-Gan

[Kwokinator]

"I know some of them just wants to see your reaction when you find out you have to marry a girl and if you'll try to get out," the young man answers as more than a few members of the audience scowls at him. "But I don't know why some of the other people were smirking, sorry."

[Corwin]

"Ah, I see," she replies. "I think it's too early for me to get married, plus there's a bunch of places I haven't seen yet." Bing Gan smiles again, and holds her staff in front of her. "Anyway, I'm ready now. Hope I won't bore you!"

[Kwokinator]

OOC: RPed the fight scene over AIM.  Here's the unedited log of the session ^_^

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The young man slips into a fighting stance, his left leg in front of his right leg, spread about shoulder-width, his left hand held in a fist, and his right hand is held in an open palm about eye-level, next to his ears.

"Ladies first," he invites Bing-Gan to attack. "I'm Ren, by the way."

Bing Gan adjusts her grip on the staff, so that one had is holding onto its end, while the other is gripping it at a shoulder's width distance. She raises it to chest level, tip pointed at Ren, she says, "Bing Gan," before thrusting it rapidly at him, the hand holding onto the rear of the staff altering its direction slightly each time.

Ren adjusts his rear hand slightly so it is just below eye level, still next to his ear, but about six inches in front of his face, for easy blocking.  At the same time, he uses his left hand to parry the incoming thrusts with the palm of his hand, never solidly blocking with any bones.

Bing Gan steps in and twists her waist with the direction of the strike to maximize the power of her last jab, then leaps back lightly, raising the staff's tip.

Ren smiles slightly, as if in approval of Bing-Gan's technique, and rotates his torso about ten degrees to one side, and at the same time pivots his left arm up to hit the underside of the staff with the side of his elbow, causing the attack to abruptly change direction and veer diagonally off its intended target, missing his head by inches due to the angle it is now at.

Bing Gan waits for a moment to see if he'd try an attack, before proceeding towards him carefully, circling Ren slightly.

Ren simply stands where he is, still in fighting stance, and makes a "come on" gesture with his hand.

Bing Gan twirls the staff above her head, before stepping in aggressively for an overhead strike, with her right foot first, bent at the knee, while the left leg is kept behind, straight.

Stepping to the outside with his forward leg, Ren parries the overhead strike with one hand, and brings his rear leg forward to the direction of his forward leg, abruptly changing direction in midway to sweep out Bing Gan's extended right leg.

Bing Gan shifts her weight to her left leg, straightening up, while her right one moves back to take place behind her left knee. She retracts her staff as she does this, and lowers its tip to aim it at Ren's feet, waiting for a chance to strike at them.

Ren slips back to his now-familiar fighting stance again, and once again gestures to invite Bing-Gan to attack.

Bing Gan lowers her right foot, and sets it parallel to her left, a wide distance apart. She bends her knees somewhat, dropping lower, while swinging at Ren's front left leg with her staff.

Lashing out with his rear leg, Ren connects hard with the underside of the staff in mid-swing, and then leans backwards to avoid the staff careening upwards due to the change in direction.  He reaches an arm out and grabs onto the staff as it flies over his head, and pulls hard to snatch the staff out of Bing Gan's hands, as she would be unable to recover from the abrupt change of movements as the staff is redirected, and performs an overhead strike with the same staff in one smooth motion, stopping the staff within an inch of Bing Gan's head.

"I guess it's a loss for me," she says, sighing. "At least you're better than the guy who lost by accident to my date, and then got so pissed about it that he knocked himself unconscious."

Ren nods, and politely handed Bing Gan her staff back, at which point numerous boos erupted from the crowd, probably at the man who wrecked their plans of seeing one girl marry another.

[Corwin]

Bing Gan returns the nod as she accepts the staff, and then makes her way off the stage while glaring at the booing idiots.

[Kwokinator]

"Wow!" Hao Long greets Bing Gan with his ever-present grin and a pat on the back as she exits the stage. "You were great!"

[Corwin]

"Thanks. It'd probably have been less painful to my pride if we had to trash yours instead, but all's well that ends well." She shrugs then, and glances at him. "Wanna see how this will end, or leave?"

[Kwokinator]

"I'm glad you didn't trash my pride though," he answers with a grin. "I kind of want to keep my equipment functional, you never know when you might use it."

"As for that," he points at the stage, where the host has once again stepped on and is seeking challengers. "It depends on what you want.  You're the one who wanted to come here, you can decide when to leave.  I'm just here."

[Corwin]

"I guess we stay, then," she says, and settles in to watch. But she tries to keep on eye on the idiots with the smirks, especially the one she taunted personally.

[Kwokinator]

The smirking population of the crowd seems to be satisfied with her loss or something, since they haven't made any special remarks or do anything they are not supposed to.

Apparently there are people who are not satisfied with the level of skill Ren displayed, as someone immediate steps up to the stage as soon as the host begins seeking another challenger.

An ordinary-looking man steps up onto the stage, carrying a six-foot long staff.  After being introduced, he immediate goes on the attack when the match begins.  His first attack is a staff thrust aimed at Ren's foreheard.  Like his strategy against Bing Gan, Ren doesn't block the thrust, but instead hit the underside of the staff with an open palm and ducks, letting the staff sail harmlessly over his head.  However, his opponent immediately spins and follows the thrust up with a swing to to Ren's ribs.  Unable to parry or redirect the attack with it aimed at his midsection, he has no choice but to block it with his arm.  Using the rebounding force from the block, the other man pivotes and unleashes a backhand swing aimed at Ren's temple.  Just as Ren begins to strike upwards with an open palm to redirect the attack, his opponent suddenly forces the swing downwards.  Suprised by the sudden change of angle, he is caught off-guard and is in the ribs.  

Not letting up for a second, the newcomer immediately follows up with an overhead strike, hoping to capitalize on the previous success.  However, Ren recovers just in time and uses an open palm to redirect the staff so it sails harmlessly off to a side, and lunges forward with a side kick aimed at his opponent's midsection.  The man immediately releases his hold on the staff, and grabs a hold of the kicking leg and pulls, resulting in Ren doing the splits on the floor.  He then uses Ren's head as a springboard, and flips over him and retrieves his staff from the floor, dashing back to keep the six-foot distance granted to him by his chosen weapon.

After getting up, Ren tries to go on the offensive, but every attack is either blocked by the staff or earned him a retaliative strike, and leaves him no closer to getting in close to the man, but receiving a few bruises for his effort.

Ren growls, visibly frustrated by his inability to close in on his opponent, and flies forward with a flying kick, almost as a desperation maneuver.  His opponent smirks, then hops off to a side to dodge the flying kick, and then lashes out with a backhand swing to the back of Ren's head, causing him to fly off the stage instead of landing on his feet.

"Ring out!" the host steps up and announces the winner to be the newcomer. "Next challenger?"

The man defeats his next two opponents without much effort, but loses to a man wielding a jian.  During a staff thrust to said opponent, the man thrusts out with his sword and literally splits the six-foot staff in half all the way up to where the man holds the weapon, then swings his sword upwards to point and stop dead at the other man's throat.  Weapon lost, he admits defeat and steps off the stage.

Surprised at the skill that such a daring move requires, no one steps onto the stage after repeated prompting from the host.  

After calling ten times for a new challenger with no takers, the host announces the jian user, by the name of Ping Liu, to be the winner of the tournament, and the soon-to-be husband of his daughter.

[Corwin]

Bing Gan winces for the poor staff, and resolves to look out for her own better from now on. "We can go now," she tells Hao Long.

[Kwokinator]

"Okay!" Hao Long replies with a grin, the contemplating look in his eyes disappearing seconds after Bing Gan looks at him. "Where to?"

[Corwin]

"To eat something," she suggests. "I can show you what Ban Ban can do afterwards."

[Kwokinator]

"Lead the way," he grins, gesturing with a hand. "I'll go wherever you go."

[Corwin]

"Haven't been here long enough to find out the best places to eat," she replies. "Got any suggestions?"

[Kwokinator]

"Depends on what kind of things you want to eat," he answers, his voice taking on the tone of a tour guide. "You can eat fancy at an expensive restaurant, a normal meal at a normal restaurants, or at one of the the stands on the side of the road."